Friday, February 17, 2006

Fear followed by loathing...

We’re gonna jump right in, chil’ren…A curious advertisement appeared in Newsweek magazine’s February 20, 2006 edition. On page 75 there is a full page policy statement from an organization called Coalition for a Humanistic Euro-British Canada. A bitch did a quick Google search and found a CBC write up about the same policy statement. The Coalition for a Humanistic Euro-British Canada (whew...wordy as a motherfucker) would like to limit immigration to Canada to include only Europeans and Brits. They would also like to see English become universally adopted as the official language for the world. Which begs the question…does this motherfucker not realize that English is not universally spoken in Europe?

Anyhoo...

This bitch found it fascinating that this ad would be placed in Newsweek here in the United States. A bitch isn’t saying that Newsweek shouldn’t have taken the ad…but it is curious that this very Canadian issue should be advocated here. Could it be that Michael Chessman, founder of this coalition, is trying to rally a North American European/British immigration push? A bitch decided to ask Mr. Chessman via e-mail…he has yet to respond. But then it did come from angryblackbitch@yahoo.com (wink).The obvious flaw here…please let it be obvious…is that limiting immigration to Europeans and/or Brits in no way guarantees that those immigrants will be white. There are multi-generational families of various cultural backgrounds who are European or British. But it seems clear that Mr. Chessman would like to see some white immigrants come forth and repopulate Canada. But that’s not right, either…Canada, like the United States, was pre-populated with First Nations long before the European invasion.

A bitch sees this issue with American eyes.Fear followed by loathing…A bitch lives in St. Louis and St. Louis is an immigrant city. The French founded it and the masses followed. Italians, Germans, Irish and so forth all made the River City their home. And each new group was treated to the legendary St. Louis cold shoulder.

We are slow to warm up unless you went to high school here (go Vikings!).

Most blacks originally came to Missouri as slaves, but a huge population immigrated here during the great Northern migration in the 1900’s. Chinese immigrants settled here too, following the westward expansion of the country. Later years have brought immigrants from just about everywhere, most recently Bosnia.

Yeah…St. Louis, like all of America, has always been a haven for immigrants.

And with immigration comes ignorance, discrimination, oppression and bullshit built on a foundation of low self esteem and fear. When this bitch attended college out East my ass found out that quotas had existed at elite universities that restricted Jews from attending.

A bitch lived in Boston and learned that storefronts used to have signs that read Irish need not apply.

A bitch visited New York and learned that horrible stereotypes and depictions were widely accepted about Italian immigrants.

This bitch lives in St. Louis, where street names were changed during World War II to erase the city's German heritage.

And in East St. Louis there was a horrific race riot in the early 1900s that resulted from white worker's fears that relocating black laborers would take their jobs at a lower wage.The same might not be true of Canada, but American immigration policy is well interpreted through fear and loathing. The 'original other' acting in fear against the 'new other'.

What gets lost in the deep valley of insecurity and self doubt is the fact that diversity was part of the American experiment from day one.

And a bitch has always been fascinated by people who automatically assume that they are being denied or threatened when someone else is given an opportunity.

Did that 'other' get the job you should have...or did the 'other' get the job you weren't ever going to get?

Maybe it’s just less painful on that ego to blame the Bosnian next door…

14 comments:

"Did that 'other' get the job you should have...or did the 'other' get the job you weren't ever going to get?"

That's the crux of the issue, particularly here in southern Arizona where immigrants from Mexico and points south are regularly demonized with the "taking jobs away from Americans" mantra. When it is pointed out that much of the US economy and the relatively low price structure we currently enjoy are predicated on the low-cost laborers filling the foundation-level jobs, the howlers aren't shamed. Instead of focusing their energy on creating oversight of businesses that hire illegal immigrants simply because they can afford three of those in the place of one documented worker, they deflect the blame for this system of what is essentially indentured servitude to the workers themselves. They DO steal American jobs, the argument goes, simply by being desperate enough to be willing to work shit jobs for very little pay. If they wouldn't, say, agree to gut pigs on the slaughterhouse floor for a quarter of the wages an American citizen would demand, why, every out-of -work US citizen would be employed as a slaughterhouse shit-mopper right now! Or dishwasher, or truck stop bathroom cleaner, or lettuce picker. Jobs I just don't seem to hear many Americans dream about and consider their ticket to Successville. Jobs I seriously doubt many, or any, Americans would choose to pay a smuggler $1000 and walk a hundred miles for across an empty desert in 110 degree heat with only a backpack and a milk jug full of water. Not for minimum wage, and probably not even for $20 an hour.

They want to blame people who are desperate enough to spend their meager lives' savings and roll the dice against death, just for the chance to make a couple bucks an hour doing filthy work with long hours, no benefits, and no protections against abuse? Go for it, and enjoy that salad.

Because Immigration in Canada is such a "touchy" issue, I have seen this report before. It came out here not long ago. It seems CBC is aligning itself with Mr. Harper the current PM. Trying to get into Canada is not as difficult as the U.S. but I do know for a fact that certian ethnic groups are finding it harder to get in than others. Since we still have ties to the "Queen" the British influence still exists. It is a common fact that what is good for the British, is usually dumped on the Canadians, yet we make and enforce our own regualtions. As for Immigration, it is an unequal process, favoring richer whiter, more educated and workable people. Canada is even deporting those they think are un-acceptible. It is the "luck of the draw" that your application for immigration is picked up and reviewed. It is well known that English is the Universal World language and deos not take into account peoples from other nations, which is very "egotistical" but I think our side of the world is trying to get a hand UP before China comes online in a big way and trumps the Western world of business, language and economics. I take everything written by Canada in the foreign press with a grain of salt, because usually they have no ida what they are reporting, and sources come from anywhere but the country in question. You must also take into account that Mr. Harper has made a new apointment to the Ambassador to the U.S. not long ago, So Mr. Harper is trying to cozy up to Mr. Bush, god help us all!!

Hey, Uptight Anonymous Motherfucker -- Why are you fucking trippin' so hard on the "Potty Mouth" bullshit? If you think it's funny ... it ain't. If you think it's actually having influence on a bitch, well, I think you REALLY are flattering your own sanctamonious self-righteous, word-count-using ass. Is it all like "I do like her posts, but I wish she didn't swear so much. I'll bring her to Jesus by posting Church Lady admonisions! That's the ticket!" Christ. Get a fucking life. Douchebag.

ABB, you are a saint to keep your site open to anonymous comments given there's a dumbass like that out there stinking up the joint. Thanks for letting this Angry Anonymous express herself.

what if the immigrants are not as white as Mr what's his name would want them??I am an immigrant living in England. I have olive skin and black hair, and I have been discriminated against for not being white enough more than I can count ( and I am good at counting).So let's assume that this guy gets his dream and gets a lot of dark skinned white Europeans. That do not speak English. What then??This is ridiculous, and sad.I would have expected the USA to have this attitude, but I thought folk in Canada were more open minded ( not being as crowded and all). Seems I am wrong.Why is it that a lot of people have such a great deal of problems accepting that yes, there are different races of people on Earth, no, none is better than the other, yes they can all live together and be happpy?

As a Canadian I can tell you that while many things are different, like any country Canada has its share of assholes. This guy is one.

BTW, MacDonald, the Bloc Quebecois are just as bad. If you are not "pur laine", that is, your family is not pure Quebecois going back to the beginning of Quebec, you have no right to be in Quebec. During the last referendum driven by the Bloc, the Bloc lost. Bernard Landry was vilified in the rest of Canada for blaming the Bloc's referendum loss on "foreigners". So while Mr. Chessman and the Bloc might detest each other when it comes to language issues, they're much closer together politically than it would first appear.

Hey ABB! Really nice post (as always!) I am concerned about Canada's current response to US soldiers 'ducking out' of war...They've already closed their borders! I'm worried about this new movement...I wonder if it's in resposne to the current 'closed-door' policy. No matter what the purpose, it's still pretty icky. I can't wait to get out of the US. I'm about done. Ugh...109 more days!

Hmmm, as a Canadian, this is the first I've heard of this issue. Monkey, the CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, not the organization that this joker Chessman is heading. Perish the thought that as Canadians we should adopt British ways/culture...have you SEEN the type of crap those people eat? Blecch. LOL. Take it with a grain of salt my American friends...Canada is known as the Cultural Mosaic, we're not a melting pot, and let people be who they are...although in some cases I think a little more assimilation wouldn't hurt to provide some unity in this country.